Hi. I could say "I'm Back", but I'm not sure I went anywhere. Well, besides moving across the country to New Jersey. Anyway, I've got some posts lined up covering the small amount of Magic I've played in the last six months or so. I'm also hopeful to be playing more in the coming months, so maybe more posts in the future. And there's always the PWP history I need to complete...
Last weekend, I made the short drive down I-95 to Philadelphia to play in the Tournament for Balance, presented by the Philadelphia Old School group. It was a great time. I had not been to Philly in ten years and I was reminded of what a great city it is. I also was reminded of how much fun playing in a real life Magic tournament can be, even if it is one just for charity and bragging rights.
Friday night there was a get together at a local brewery. I got to meet a lot of the local people as well as a few out of towners. There was maybe a dozen people, but that is more than enough to have a good time. I played a few games with my OS deck, but mainly worked on getting reps in with my Premodern list. Premodern still a bit new to me. I played a lot of Middle School while in Texas, but the formats seem very different. The list I've put together is not even close to playable in MS, but seems like it could find a home in PM with a bit more tuning and SB help. Here is my deck:
In Middle School, you are probably better off playing Dragon or Earthcraft Nightmare, but those cards are banned in Premodern. I won some games and lost some games, maybe I'll write more about this deck in the future.
For the Old School main event on Saturday, I played AtogShops. This was mainly because I had just acquired a set of Mishra's Workshops and wanted to try them out. I played the Atog version because I think it is the best level 0 deck in Atlantic. It plays all the powerful restricted cards, almost every card is proactive and flexible, and explosive. Many games are won by a draw seven fueling an Atog after the initial onslaught of SuChi and Trikes are dealt with. It doesn't need the right answers to line up vs the right threats like The Deck, and it doesn't need to draw a critical mass of burn spells like the various LionDibBolt decks do. I consider normal Atog lists to be poor in Atlantic because Black Vise is much weaker without access to four Strip Mine. There might be better metagame calls and better choices to suit a particular play style, but I think this is the best baseline deck. It also helps that in the lower stakes events, you are much less likely to play against The Deck, which is the worst matchup. Here is my take:
My pet card Jalum Tome shows up here again, but this time I don't think it is very good. It's not really in line with the Armageddon plan, and you aren't trying to dig for the last burn spell to finish someone off like in my usual Atog build. It should probably be another Armageddon or Relic Barrier. I did not find the Swords to Plowshares in the sideboard to be that effective. I could see maybe making two of them The Abyss for when you need to be the controlling deck, but that may tax the mana more. I would play another City in a Bottle or two if I owned them.
R1 vs Mano on Rasputin
Game one I play a turn two Triskelion and then Copy Artifact twice on turn three. He's forced to Hurkyll's Recall and takes 9 in the process. Replaying them finishes the game quickly. Game two involves an early Armageddon and I'm in control for most of the game. He casts a Shatterstorm that hurts him as much as me. I think I win by tapping his City of Brass a few times with Icy Manipulator.
1-0
R2 vs Paul DeSilva on something
I'm not exactly sure what he was playing. I think I Armageddon game one to win. Game two I Mind Twist for five on turn one and he does not recover.
2-0
R3 vs Will Magrann on The Deck
Game one he gets Library active, but I manage to resolve Timetwister to stay somewhat at parity. He draws four Mishra's Factory and I draw zero though, so I'm unable to make any progress on his life and concede shortly after. Game two is similar except I don't have the Twister to help out. I draw a pair of Icy Manipulators but they weren't as good as I hoped. I definitely made mistakes in sideboarding.
2-1
After round three there was a break for lunch. I had mediocre Guatemalan food near the church where the event was taking place. Lunch may not have been the best, but I did get to enjoy one more game of Premodern where I barely beat Dom's Paralax Tide / Tangle Wire / Umbilicus / Propaganda / Mana Breach deck by eventually attacking with Great Whale three separate times when the shields were down.
R4 vs Pez Unholy on UW Fliers
Game one I flood out a bit after he answers my early threats which lets him resolve a Serra Angel and the Counterspell my follow up plays when I draw out of the flood. Serra does a good job of ending the game quickly. Games two and three are the opposite. I have early pressure and he can't afford to hold up counter magic. He is forced to tap out for Serra and I get the window to resolve Icy and neutralize it. Both games go similarly and I'm never in any significant danger.
3-1
R5 vs Stephen on RG Blood Moon Aggro
He's fairly low to the ground but doesn't draw Blood Moon game one. A Triskelion kills his team and then I Copy it to seal the game. Game two is similar but this time I get to make a play I hadn't done in Old School before. After he cast Wheel of Fortune, I Demonic Tutor for Time Walk, which lets me attack him to 8 life on the additional turn. I'm two mana short from playing Trike+Copy (plus one already in play) to ping him out, but instead I can cast Atog and sacrifice my SuChi to get the additional mana I need to win the game that turn. Neat!
4-1
There were 29 players and we were doing Swiss +1. Going into the final round, there was one 5-0, four people on 4-1, and a bunch on 3-2. I'm paired vs fellow Falling Star Simon is also 4-1, so depending on what happens in the two matches with pairdowns (the 5-0 vs 4-1 and the 4-1 vs 3-2), this match could be for a possible tie for 1st place. We presume Simon has better tiebreakers due to his one loss being to Seth who is 5-0, so he probably has the better shot.
R6 vs Simon Christie on Atog
Game one is interesting. We trade some early threats and I resolve Wheel of Fortune. I end up with four Icy Manipulator and two Relic Barrier in play, but I can't find a threat. Simon draws only Savannah Lions, Atogs, and Factories to eventually outnumber my tappers and start chipping in damage. Eventually he gets me low enough to burn me out and I never find a threat. Game two I'm once again threat light but have answers for his first creatures. We play draw go for a while. I attempt a Wheel of Fortune again, and once again I draw blanks while he draws not blanks and I die. I should be boarding out the draw sevens in the matchup but forgot.
4-2
Seth wins to go 6-0 and lock up first place. Will Magrann the other 4-1 loses when he's paired down to Mano so that leaves Simon as the only 5-1 for second place. My breakers are somehow the best of the 4-2s and I end up in 3rd.
After the event, I was invited to cube draft at Will's house. We also had cheesesteaks. The cheesesteak was pretty good and cube drafting was obviously fun.
Overall it was a fun weekend. I got to meet a lot of new faces that I'll hopefully see more often. I really missed playing in an actual tournament where the results mean something (even if they don't). Even though I don't find the game play of Old School to be that compelling, I had a blast during my games. The action is the juice.
Props:
Dan for putting on the event.
First Unitarian Church of Philadelphia for hosting
All the people that showed up
Slops:
The A/C in the church basement
Parking in Philadelphia - wtf is this?
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